


More Than Just a Word

by MYuzuki



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Episode Related, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Loyalty, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, as in I'm writing it gen but you can interpret it as pre-slash if you want, as in each chapter corresponds to an episode (for now at least)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 11:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20096449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: It's not loyalty that keeps him tagging along after the Musketeers, at least not at first.





	1. Friends and Enemies

**Author's Note:**

> "Loyalty is more than just a word, it's a way of life."

It's not loyalty that keeps him tagging along after the Musketeers, at least not at first.

At first, it's because he wants justice for his father's murder.

(Or rather, because he wants _vengeance_ for his father's murder. Because someone has taken from him the only family he has left, aside from some cousins he hasn't seen in years.

Because there's a hot tangle of emotions deep in his chest, a knot of guilt and fury and grief that's burning him up from the inside out, and it won't let him rest until his father's killer is dead.)

He goes with Aramis and Porthos because they insist -adamantly- that Athos is innocent. And d'Artagnan isn't sure if he believes them at first (they are clearly Athos's friends, after all, and subsequently biased in his favor) but it's not a possibility he can ignore, either.

Because his father might have named Athos as his killer with his last living breath, but if somehow it _isn't_ true…

If it isn't true and Athos is executed, then not only will another innocent man be dead but the real killer will also walk free. And that's not something d'Artagnan can accept, so he goes with Aramis and Porthos to find the truth.

(And he has to admit, if only to himself, that Athos hadn't seemed like the sort of man who would kill an old farmer in cold blood. He was a Musketeer, after all, and when presented with a chance to slit d'Artagnan's throat in combat, he hadn't.

D'Artagnan had been too consumed by his own rage to appreciate that at the time, but in hindsight….well, it certainly gives him something to consider, at least, as he rides back to the roadside inn where his father had died, with two Musketeers he barely knows flanking him as he goes.)

Together, they get to the bottom of things, uncovering the plot to besmirch Athos's reputation and thereby discredit the Musketeers as a whole.

It's not loyalty that makes d'Artagnan stay his hand when Aramis tells him not to kill Gaudet, but there is _something_.

_We need him alive_, Aramis says, and it burns, because Gaudet is responsible for the death of d'Artagnan's father and to leave him alive flies in the face of the sort of justice he's been raised to believe in; Gaudet deserves to die for what he's done, and d'Artagnan should be the one to kill him, to avenge his father.

But letting Athos die for a crime he hasn't committed isn't justice, either, and that's what will happen if Gaudet dies before they have more proof of his misdeeds. And no matter how furious d'Artagnan is over his father's murder, he can't let an innocent man (and a Musketeer, at that) be executed just so he can have revenge personally.

Besides, what he says to Gaudet is true: a hanging is much more fitting for someone who'd acted with such dishonor.

Unfortunately, Gaudet ends up forcing the issue, and despite d'Artagnan's previous intentions he ends up killing the Red Guard to avoid a dagger in the back. It's obviously self-defense to everyone present, but even so d'Artagnan can't help the anxious flip his stomach gives. Because without Gaudet and the stolen uniforms he'd used to frame the Musketeers, the only proof they have of the conspiracy is the testimony of Dujon, yet another crooked Red Guard.

It isn't loyalty that brings a small smile to his face when Porthos finishes his search of the enemy camp and finds the uniforms, but he can't deny the wave of relief that washes through him anyway.

He returns to Paris with Porthos and Aramis, pausing just long enough to drop Constance off at home before going with the Musketeers to acquire Athos's official pardon. It's not loyalty that has him accompanying them, more of a sense of obligation than anything, but he can't suppress the grin that creeps across his face once Athos is set free.

(It's without a doubt the happiest expression to grace his face since his father's death, and even with his life still in shambles there's a strange feeling of lightness in his chest that hadn't been there before.)

It's not loyalty that makes him stay in Paris when by all logic he should be saddling up his horse and riding back to Lupiac, but when Porthos not-so-subtly suggests he stick around for a little while he finds himself agreeing anyway. Because there might not be loyalty yet or even friendship, but the _potential_ is there, born out of the camaraderie that had blossomed between all of them.

It's a tenuous connection at best, but d'Artagnan is curious to see what it might turn into, what _he_ might turn into, and so he stays.


	2. Sleight of Hand

When someone is needed for the undercover operation against Vadim, it isn't loyalty to the Musketeers or even a sense of duty to the greater good that motivates d'Artagnan to volunteer. His motivation tracks back to the Musketeers at least partly, of course, because he's a young man still searching for his purpose in life (especially since his old life isn't one he feels capable of returning to, not with the death of his father still looming above him like a specter no matter how hard he tries to shake off the lingering grief and move on).

And perhaps it's the wishful thinking of a farm boy set adrift by unforeseen circumstances, but when d'Artagnan thinks of staying with the musketeers it just feels _right_. It makes sense to him in a way very little has since his father's death. And so he volunteers to be thrown into prison to spy on Vadim.

The others seem to think he's trying to prove himself, and while they're certainly not _wrong_ in that assumption there's also more to it than that.

He's meant to be a Musketeer. He's sure of it. Despite the rough beginning (and if there's a rougher start to an association than by an emotionally-charged sword-fight during which he'd accused one of the best Musketeers of murder, he can't imagine it) he feels like this is the right path for him to be on.

He just needs to convince the others of it, too.

His stint in prison is unpleasant but brief, and he manages to convince Vadim to bring him along when he escapes.

Of course, then Vadim goes and releases all the other prisoners as well and almost _kills the Queen_ on top of it so things aren't going precisely according to plan, but d'Artagnan mitigates the damage as best he can.

D'Artagnan's also not thrilled over almost having his fingers chiselled off because Vadim's a suspicious bastard who still doesn't totally trust him, but he holds his nerve long enough to win the madman over at least a little bit more.

(Subterfuge isn't one of d'Artagnan's natural talents, but for the Musketeers he's willing to do it.)

He manages to slip away during the night, despite Felix's attempts to waylay him; Felix, he knows, trusts him not at all ad that has the potential to cause quite a bit of trouble if he's not careful.

Ultimately, however, he manages to get Felix off his back long enough to report in to the others, all of them clustered together in Constance's kitchen.

Unfortunately, what little information they've managed to collect and piece together isn't enough, which leaves them with very few options going forward.

They're not thrilled with his decision to return to Vadim in the hopes of gaining more information on where the stolen gunpowder is and what Vadim intends to do with it, but ultimately there's no other choice.

"It's too dangerous," Athos says, and d'Artagnan's not sure if it's worry for him or worry for the mission that motivates the statement but either way his own answer stays the same.

"I can do this," he insists. "Trust me."

(He'd asked Vadim to trust him, too, but when he says the words to Athos he _means_ them. He needs Vadim to trust him for the sake of the mission, but he wants Athos's trust for reasons that are significantly more nebulous; he can't explain it fully, not even to himself, but as much as he wants the approval of the Musketeers as a whole it's Athos to whom he want to prove himself the most.)

In the end, Athos concedes and allows him to return to Vadim, tasking Porthos to watch over him from a discreet distance after a mishap with the Red Guards.

(The resolution of that mishap leaves him uneasy, as do the words of the woman who had stepped in to save him, but he forges on regardless. After all, he doesn't have time to puzzle out what her ultimate goal might be, not when every second he delays could be the second of absence that costs him what little f Vadim's trust he's managed to acquire.)

Unfortunately, d'Artagnan either overestimated his own acting ability of underestimated Vadim's intellect because all his efforts come to naught.

Or rather, they lead to him being knocked over the head and being tied down pretty much o top of a truly obscene number of powder barrels, which is significantly worse.

(The terror brought on by his impending death -and a gruesome and painful death at that- drowns out virtually every other emotion aside from a furious sort of desperation, but even so there's a faint twinge of regret deep in his chest.

It seems as if Athos's trust in him was misplaced, after all.)

Somehow, he manages to get free from his bindings and put out the fuse.

Of course, true to his luck lately when he goes to open the door it triggers more fuses, more than he can possibly put out in time.

(If he didn't despise Vadim so much, he might actually be impressed.)

In the end, he does the smart thing and flees the room rather than hopelessly trying to put out all the fuses, trying to put as much distance between himself and the upcoming explosion as possible.

He doesn't get nearly as far away as he'd like, but when the dust settles he's not dead or even grievously maimed so at least there's that.

He wastes no time in tracking down Vadim in the tunnels once he's gotten his bearings, and if he takes a bit of savage pleasure in outmatching Vadim in the ensuing fight and stabbing him through the gut he thinks that he can probably be forgiven for it given the circumstances.

He's startled when the musketeers arrive -he'd instinctively started bracing for another fight since he'd not known where Vadim's cohorts had gotten off to- but also overwhelmingly relieved. Given how close to the action the Musketeers always were, he'd had a nagging worry that they have might gotten injured or even killed as a result of Vadim's schemes.

But they seem relatively unscathed, all things considered (they're less battered than d'Artagnan himself, at least, so he has the small comfort of knowing that however close they were to the action they hadn't been quite as perilously close as he'd been).

Any other person might be perturbed by Athos's "So, you are alive" remark, his tone so disinterested that he might have been discussing the weather, but d'Artagnan's been observing the other man, trying to understand him better, and as such he can hear an edge of emotion buried under that flat tone.

(d'Artagnan is not the only person experiencing a feeling of relief, it seems, and somehow that's another relief in and of itself, that he wasn't just disposable to them, an acceptable sacrifice for the greater good.)

They catch up to Vadim, because of course they do; d'Artagnan had scored a mortal blow and even ignoring that they were all highly motivated to catch stop Vadim from getting away yet again.

(Vadim had likely never stood much of a chance at all, really, not up against all of them together.)

Still, it had been much too close for comfort (as the rope burns on d'Artagnan's wrists can attest) and that makes d'Artagnan acknowledge the truth in Vadim's last words.

"It was a good trick," the man wheezes. "Should have worked."

"It nearly did," d'Artagnan replies honestly, and wonders how long it will take for his heart to stop pounding in his chest like a war-drum.

In the aftermath, once the Musketeers have reported in to Treville and been granted two days of rest in repayment for their success, d'Artagnan considers just…leaving.

Because he's had close calls before and plenty of near misses but never _that_ close. And while he's not afraid precisely, there is the fear that all of this is for nothing.

Because at the end of the day, no matter how much he _wants_ it, he's not a Musketeer. He's just a farm boy from Gascony who's too full of fight to know when to quit.

Except then the Musketeers show up, appearing at the Bonacieux residence the next day, right as d'Artagnan is seriously thinking about packing up his things and saddling his horse up for the long ride back to Lupiac.

He tries to put them off when they insist on dragging him out to the local tavern to celebrate their success against Vadim, but between Aramis's persistence and Porthos's boisterous cajoling he doesn't stand much of a chance of dissuading them. He relents, in the end, and falls into step beside Athos while the other two lead the way to the tavern.

"How are you feeling?" Athos ask as they walk, his tone one of casual disinterest even as his sharp blue eyes look at d'Artagnan in what is blatantly as assessment of some sort.

_Like I was almost blown up yesterday_, d'Artagnan almost says, but he traps that answer behind his teeth before it can escape. "Well enough, considering," he says instead, the answer not quite evasive per se but close enough to discourage pursuit of the topic.

"Mm," is Athos's succinct response, and d'Artagnan can't help but chuckle at the characteristically terse reply. Athos can be plenty verbose if he's in the right mood and with the right company, but d'Artagnan's starting to get used to his more reticent moods as well. He's realized that for every word Athos says, there are a dozen words he _isn't_ saying; as a result, d'Artagnan is quickly becoming adept at reading between the verbal lines, so to speak.

The way Athos is still looking at him out of the corner of his eye is fairly telling as well; not only are Athos's eyes ridiculously expressive in general, but the way his gaze seems to catch on the scabs on d'Artagnan's wrists and the stiff set of his shoulders (caused by the bruises and muscle strain that had resulted first from being tied up and then from being catapulted down a subterraneous passageway by an explosion) is a bit of a giveaway.

Athos might not _say_ it, but it seems like he was at least a little worried about d'Artagnan's well-being after all.

His loyalty to the Musketeers hadn't been why he'd agreed to the mission, but it's what makes him stay. Because _their_ loyalty had brought them _to him_, to include him in their celebration of a mission well done (in spite of his own missteps, even).

Their loyalty makes him realize that maybe he doesn't need to try so desperately to prove himself, and that gains them more of _his_ loyalty in return.

So no, loyalty hadn't been his primary motivation originally, but it had ended up being the most important factor regardless. 

Loyalty to his friends is what keeps him in Paris. 


End file.
